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U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, with the Japanese and South Korean ambassadors, spoke Wednesday after the U.N. Security Council's meeting to discuss North Korea’s recent missile launches, warning that “the world needs to be focused on” the issue. (Published Thursday, March 9, 2017)

North Korea is vowing tough counteraction to any military moves that might follow the U.S. move to send the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula.

The statement from Pyongyang comes as tensions on the divided peninsula are high because of U.S.-South Korea wargames now underway and recent ballistic missile launches by the North. Pyongyang sees the annual maneuvers as a dress rehearsal for invasion, while the North's missile launches violate U.N. resolutions.

"We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions," a spokesman for its Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency late Monday.

The statement comes just after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said U.S. missile strikes against a Syrian air base in retaliation for a chemical weapon attack carry a message for any nation operating outside of international norms.

US Sends Missile Defense System Parts to S. Korea

U.S. missile launchers and other equipment needed to set up a controversial missile defense system, called the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), have arrived in South Korea, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said Tuesday, a day after North Korea test-launched four ballistic missiles into the ocean near Japan.

(Published Tuesday, March 7, 2017)

He didn't specify North Korea, but the context was clear enough.

"If you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken," Tillerson told ABC's "This Week."

The North has long claimed the U.S. is preparing some kind of assault against it and justifies its nuclear weapons as defensive in nature.

"This goes to prove that the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase of its scenario," the North's statement said. "If the U.S. dares opt for a military action, crying out for 'preemptive attack' and 'removal of the headquarters,' the DPRK is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S."

North Korea's formal name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

U.S. Navy ships are a common presence in the Korean region and are in part a show of force. On Saturday night, the Pentagon said a Navy carrier strike group was moving toward the western Pacific Ocean to provide more of a physical presence in the region.

Attack Kills 13, Police Kill 5 Suspects in Spain: Officials

A white van jumped the sidewalk in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas district on Aug. 17, 2017. Police say 13 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in this terrorist attack. The area is one of the city’s top tourist destinations. Later, police shot and killed five terror suspects in Cambrils, Spain, in a separate incident.

(Published 3 hours ago)

President Donald Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, described the decision to send the carrier group as "prudent."